Written Answers Monday 19 February 2007

Scottish Executive

Ambulance Service

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many times an ambulance has failed to reach a patient within an hour of being summoned in each of the last eight years in (a) Lanarkshire and (b) Ayrshire.

Mr Andy Kerr: The figures requested are listed in the following tables. The Scottish Ambulance Service rolled out a priority based dispatch system during 2002-04, so the figures from 2000-03 relate to all accident and emergency (A&E) incidents and the figures from 2003-06 relate to Category A (life-threatening) and Category B (serious but not life-threatening) calls. Category B responses include calls transferred from GPs, hospitals or NHS 24 where the patient has already received clinical intervention and requires to be taken to hospital or, in some cases, to another hospital. The current average response time across Scotland for Category A calls is 8.4 minutes.

  

Ayrshire
Number of A&E Incidents Which Took Over an Hour to Respond to
Total A&E Incidents 
for the Year
Proportion of Responses 
Over 1 Hour


1999-2000
2
19,481
0.010%


2000-01
7
19,904
0.035%


2001-02
3
22,051
0.014%


2002-03
4
22,706
0.018%



  

Ayrshire
Number of Cat A Incidents which Took Over an Hour to Respond to
Number of Cat B Incidents which Took Over an Hour to Respond to
Total A&E Incidents for the Year
Proportion of Responses over 1 Hour


2003-04
1
0
24,918
0.004%


2004-05
0
3
24,956
0.012%


2005-06
1
6
25,756
0.027%



  

Lanarkshire
Number of A&E Incidents which Took Over an Hour to Respond to
Total A&E Incidents 
for the Year
Proportion of Responses 
Over 1 Hour


1999-2000
4
28,016
0.014%


2000-01
6
29,345
0.020%


2001-02
7
30,992
0.023%


2002-03
36
31,877
0.113%



  

Lanarkshire
Number of Cat A Incidents which Took Over an Hour to Respond to
Number of Cat B Incidents Which Took Over an Hour to Respond to
Total A&E Incidents for the Year
Proportion of Responses Over 
1 Hour


2003-04
4
14
35,541
0.051%


2004-05
0
7
36,683
0.019%


2005-06
3
24
39,047
0.069%



  Note: Information provided by the Scottish Ambulance Service.

Autism

Murdo Fraser (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many children with autism there are in the Fife local authority area; in what types of school they are placed, and how many are home educated.

Robert Brown: The number of pupils in publicly funded schools in Fife, for whom Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is recorded as the main difficulty in learning in a Record of Needs and/or an Individualised Educational Programme is published in tables 6.8, 7.5 and 8.5 of Pupils in Scotland 2005  http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2006/02/28083932/0 .

  There were seven pupils in independent special schools located in Fife for whom ASD was recorded as the main difficulty in learning. The number of pupils with ASD being home educated is not held centrally.

Autism

Murdo Fraser (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many children there are with autism in Scotland and what action is being taken to improve their lives and ensure that they receive education suitable for their needs.

Robert Brown: The number of pupils in publicly funded schools for whom Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is recorded as the main difficulty of learning in a Record of Needs and/or an Individualised Educational Programme is published in table 1.7 of Pupils in Scotland 2005 :  http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2006/02/28083932/0 .

  The number of pupils in independent schools for whom ASD is recorded as the main difficulty of learning in a Record of Needs and/or an Individualised Educational Programme is published in table 4 of the Independent School Census 2005: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2006/04/25091645/0.

  The Scottish Executive is taking forward a number of actions, in both education and health, to improve the lives of children of children with ASD. These actions include the formation of the ASD Education Working Group, which is carrying forward the recommendations of the report of Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Education, which examines the educational provision for children with ASD and the NAS make school make sense report. The Scottish Executive Health Department has set up the ASD Reference Group, which is taking forward the recommendations in the Public Health Institute of Scotland’s ASD Needs Assessment Report (2001). The Scottish Executive also provides significant funding to a number of projects, all aimed at improving the lives of children with ASD.

Cancer

Dr Elaine Murray (Dumfries) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether NHS QIS has made any recommendation about the use of Sutent as a treatment for renal cancer and, if so, what recommendation it has made.

Mr Andy Kerr: The Scottish Medicines Consortium noted this month that Sutent® (sunitinib) is not recommended for use within NHS Scotland for the treatment of advanced or metastatic renal cell carcinoma after failure of interferon-alpha or interleukin-2 therapy.

Digital Technology

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-30721 by Nicol Stephen on 21 December 2006, what steps it has taken to allow providers other than BT, such as Tiscali, to provide broadband services to areas such as Galashiels.

Nicol Stephen: All Scottish telephone exchange areas can be served by retail providers, other than BT.

  The smaller 148 Exchange Activate exchanges upgraded for broadband under the Executive’s supply-side intervention in 2005 also allow other providers, in addition to BT, to offer services. Both BT and the Executive have taken action to make Internet Service Providers (ISP) aware of their opportunities to provide services on these exchanges.

Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004

Murdo Fraser (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether all local authorities are complying with the Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004.

Murdo Fraser (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how it monitors whether local authorities are fully implementing and complying with the Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004.

Robert Brown: Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Education (HMIE) are monitoring and evaluating the implementation of the Act. An interim report of a specific inspection programme was published on 31 October 2006 and did not identify any specific breach of duty by local authorities. This report is available at:  http://www.hmie.gov.uk/documents/publication/Interim%20Report%20ASL%20Act%202005.pdf .

  The final report of their findings will be published in autumn 2007.

  In addition, HMIE are providing information on the implementation of the act through their routine inspection programme of schools and education authorities.

Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004

Murdo Fraser (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is satisfied with the impact that the Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004 has had on the care of children with additional support needs.

Robert Brown: I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-31711 on 19 February 2007. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search .

  The evaluation of the act’s implementation is on-going and it is therefore to early to draw any firm conclusions on its overall impact.

Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004

Murdo Fraser (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it considers that it is appropriately funding local authorities to fulfil their obligations under the Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004.

Robert Brown: Yes. The Scottish Executive provides significant funding specifically for the implementation of the Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004. The funding for 2006-07 and 2007-08 is £12.5 million per annum.

Energy

Shiona Baird (North East Scotland) (Green): To ask the Scottish Executive what assessment it has made of the potential for deep geothermal energy production in Scotland.

Nicol Stephen: While the Executive has not carried out any formal assessment of the potential for deep geothermal energy production in Scotland, we are committed to developing a Renewable Heat Strategy by the end of 2007. The potential for geothermal energy will be considered as part of this work.

Housing

Murray Tosh (West of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the publication in November 2006 of Communities Scotland’s research report 72, "Local housing need and affordability model for Scotland – Update", whether it or Communities Scotland plans to commission further research into the impact on housing demand and supply of recent and projected in-migration to Scotland from EU countries and elsewhere.

Rhona Brankin: There are currently no plans to commission further national research into the impact of recent and projected in-migration to Scotland on housing demand and supply. However, following on from the publication of Communities Scotland research report 72, the Executive and Communities Scotland are undertaking work examining the consistency of housing needs assessments at local authority area level. This will include attempting to collect information on the level of in-migrants into each local authority area who are unable to afford suitable housing.

  Locally Communities Scotland are supporting two housing need studies, "Exploring the Housing Needs of Minority Ethnic Communities in Forth Valley’ and ‘Accommodation Needs Assessment for Gypsy Travellers (Edinburgh, Scottish Borders, East and Mid Lothian)". These studies will further our understanding of the impact of recent in-migration in these areas.

  Nationally, the General Register Office for Scotland will be involved with work improving migration data sources in the UK, following a recent report of the Migration Task Force. This will improve the evidence on which projections of the future population, and therefore the number of households, are based.

Housing

Richard Lochhead (Moray) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether there are plans to introduce new arrangements for the acquisition of housing land by local authorities and, if so, whether such plans include a proposal to prevent Communities Scotland from compensating authorities for the purchase of land that is acquired for affordable housing.

Rhona Brankin: There are currently no such plans. Local authorities have a number of mechanisms open to them at present for acquiring housing land. Such acquisitions are a matter for local authorities and their partners to consider within their Local Housing Strategy delivery frameworks, taking account of value for money considerations.

Justice

Patrick Harvie (Glasgow) (Green): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it issues guidance to police on the meaning of the term "reasonable grounds" in section 48(1) of the Criminal Law (Consolidation) (Scotland) Act 1995.

Cathy Jamieson: No. It is the responsibility of individual police forces to develop guidelines regarding stop and search. Police officers have to act according to the law and be able to demonstrate to the Courts that they have done so.

Justice

Margaret Mitchell (Central Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many clerks to the district court spend a sufficient percentage of their time on district court work to entitle them to transfer to employment with the Scottish Court Service under the Transfer of Undertaking (Protection of Employment) (TUPE) regulations.

Cathy Jamieson: According to the information provided so far by local authorities there are 28 district court clerks (legal assessors) who will meet the 50% criterion for time spent on district court business which would identify them as candidates for transfer to the Scottish Court Service. Three local authorities have not yet identified the staff who meet this criterion, and there will be further discussions with local authorities and their staff as preparations for courts unification are taken forward in each sheriffdom.

Justice

Margaret Mitchell (Central Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many clerks to the district court spend an insufficient percentage of their time on district court work to entitle them to transfer to employment with the Scottish Court Service under the Transfer of Undertaking (Protection of Employment) (TUPE) regulations.

Cathy Jamieson: According to the information provided so far by local authorities there are 66 district court clerks (legal assessors) who will not meet the 50% criterion for time spent on district court business which would identify them as candidates for transfer to the Scottish Court Service.

NHS Finance

Shona Robison (Dundee East) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how much was spent on NHS reorganisation in each of the last 10 years.

Mr Andy Kerr: The information is not available in the format requested.

Nuclear Power

Richard Lochhead (Moray) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it considers that the Committee on Radioactive Waste Management’s final report offers a viable solution for dealing with nuclear waste.

Ross Finnie: The Scottish Executive responded to the Committee on Radioactive Waste Management’s (CoRWM) final report as a joint sponsor of CoRWM on 25 October 2006.

  I refer the member to my response to answer to question S2W-29252 on 25 October 2006 in which I stated that both the devolved administrations and the UK Government believes that CoRWM’s report provides a sound basis to move forward. We accept CoRWM’s recommendations that the UK’s higher activity legacy waste should be managed in the long term through geological disposal, and that there is a continuing need for safe and secure interim storage until the geological disposal option is delivered. We will consult on implementation later this year.

  All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

Nuclear Power

Richard Lochhead (Moray) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what position it will take on applications for new nuclear power stations in Scotland.

Allan Wilson: I refer the member to the answers to questions S2W-24496 and S2W-23957 on 16 May 2006 and 14 March 2006 respectively. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website the search facility for which can be found at:  http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search .

Population

Ms Sandra White (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many births there were in Glasgow in each year since 1999.

George Lyon: The information available is given in the following table.

  Live Births, Glasgow City, 1999-2005

  

1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005


6,830
6,578
6,645
6,386
6,573
6,612
6,833

Prison Service

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what prison custody protocols are in place in respect of religion and belief.

Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) to respond. His response is as follows:

  The SPS operates in accordance with the Prisons and Young Offenders’ Institutions (Scotland) Rules 2006 (Rule 43) which states that every prisoner shall be allowed to observe the requirements of the prisoner’s religious and moral beliefs. Each prison applies that rule, and that every prison is informed of the facilities or arrangements which exist or may be made for these purposes.

Prison Service

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what guidance it issues in respect of the practice of religion and belief by those in prison custody and what the status is of such guidance.

Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) to respond. His response is as follows:

  Relevant guidance includes a guide for staff on Religions and Cultures, an SPS Equality and Diversity Policy and mandatory training for all staff regarding European Court of Human Rights issues. The guidance sets out what the SPS believes to be appropriate action and is to help staff carry out their duties.

Prison Service

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how it monitors the implementation of prison custody protocols in respect of religion and belief.

Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) to respond. His response is as follows:

  The SPS aims to obey the law including section 43 of the Prison Rules. The Prisons’ Chaplaincy Steering Group, REMIT addresses issues in relation to Race Relations, Equality and Diversity. The SPS Chaplaincy Advisers monitor effectiveness of the arrangements in place in the SPS.

Prison Service

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what denominations are covered by prison custody protocols in respect of religion and belief.

Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) to respond. His response is as follows:

  The SPS does not have "prison custody protocols". We have The Prison and Young Offenders Institutions (Scotland) Rules 2006. Denominations currently catered for include Baptists, Buddhists, Christian, Church of England, Church of Scotland, Episcopalian, Hindu, Jehovah Witnesses, Jewish, Mormon, Muslim, Roman Catholic, Sikh, Other Christian.

  This list is not exhaustive it can be amended to include other affiliations.

Recycling

Mr Jamie Stone (Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what funding it will allocate for kerbside recycling in the rural Highlands in 2007-08.

Ross Finnie: Through the Strategic Waste Fund we have awarded Highland Council with £4,261,609 for recycling in 2007-08, of which, £3,832,192 is for kerbside recycling.

Roads

Dr Elaine Murray (Dumfries) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what conditions were attached to the traffic regulation order which closed the A7 in Langholm from 15 January 2007.

Tavish Scott: The closure of the A7 at Langholm was included in the South East Unit Trunk Roads Area (Temporary Prohibitions of Traffic, Temporary Prohibitions of Overtaking and Temporary Speed Restrictions) (No. 12) Order 2006 which was made on 28 December 2006 and came into force on 1 January 2007.

  Notice of the making of the order was published in The Herald on 29 December 2006.

  This order allowed for the closure of a 3km section of the A7 between Skipper’s Underbridge to Factory Underbridge, between 1 January 2007 and 28 February 2007. The closure only had effect during this period where indicated by appropriate traffic signs.

  Transport Scotland has the operational responsibility for this area, and can be contacted for more information if required.

Skye Bridge

Carolyn Leckie (Central Scotland) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the duties of Highland Regional Council as the Secretary of State’s agent for the A87 Skye crossing scheme included ensuring compliance with statutory requirements placed on the Secretary of State by primary legislation.

Tavish Scott: No.

Skye Bridge

Carolyn Leckie (Central Scotland) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive why over £60 million has been paid to Skye Bridge Ltd when the agreed costs to be collected by the concessionaire as announced on the statutory identification statement were to be “£23.64 million at July 1990 prices”.

Tavish Scott: The contractually agreed costs to be recovered by the concessionaire were expressed in 1991 prices discounted at six per cent a year to 1991 base year. The amounts received by Skye Bridge Limited include more than £33 million in toll revenues and compensation payments, and £26.75 million to end the tolling concession. Both these figures are stated in cash terms.

Skye Bridge

Carolyn Leckie (Central Scotland) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive who has been responsible since May 1999 for addressing any financial discrepancies discovered since the 23 May 1997 National Audit Office report on the Skye Bridge.

Tavish Scott: In the period in question the external auditors of The Scottish Office and the Scottish Executive were:

  For financial years up to and including 1999-2000 – the National Audit Office

  For financial years starting 2000-01 – Audit Scotland.

  In addition, KPMG were appointed to provide independent certification of toll revenue compensation claims submitted by Skye Bridge Limited.

  Audit and other financial arrangements at Skye Bridge Limited were a matter for the company.

Social Work

Jackie Baillie (Dumbarton) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it takes to monitor the spending of local authorities in relation to social work Grant Aided Expenditure.

Robert Brown: The Executive uses the information provided by local authorities in the annual Local Financial Returns to monitor expenditure on social work. The returns collect expenditure and income on social work services.

Social Work

Jackie Baillie (Dumbarton) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what progress has been made on the social work inspection of Argyll and Bute Council.

Robert Brown: The Chief Executive of the Social Work Services Inspection Agency has indicated that the performance inspection of Argyll and Bute Council social work services began in November 2006 with file reading of older people’s cases. Arrangements are now in place for further file reading, fieldwork and survey work of local authority staff, people who use services, and carers. This will take place between March and May this year. The report will be published in the autumn.

Sport

Donald Gorrie (Central Scotland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what measures are in place to encourage as many young people as possible from ethnic minority communities to take part in sport.

Patricia Ferguson: The Executive is committed to increasing opportunities for everyone to participate in sport regardless of their background. We are supporting sportscotland in the implementation of the Single Equity Plan and the Equity Standard for Scottish sport to ensure that no artificial barriers exist which would deter individuals from participating in sport and fulfilling their potential.

Stone of Destiny

Murdo Fraser (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has passed a copy of the Official Report of the parliamentary debate on the Stone of Destiny on 13 December 2006 to the commissioners of the regalia.

Patricia Ferguson: Historic Scotland issued hard copies of an abstract of the Official Report of the parliamentary debate on the Stone of Destiny on 13 December 2006 to the Commissioners of the Regalia on Friday 9 February 2007 in order to ensure that the commissioners were fully informed of the debate if they had not previously read the Official Report published on the Scottish Parliament website.

Stone of Destiny

Murdo Fraser (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has received a response from the commissioners of the regalia following the parliamentary debate on the Stone of Destiny on 13 December 2006 and, if so, what their response was.

Patricia Ferguson: At the request of the First Minister, I wrote to the Lord Advocate, the Lord Justice Clerk and the Lord Clerk Register prior to the debate to inform them that it was taking place. All responded prior to the debate and were unanimous in their view that the stone should remain at Edinburgh Castle. I have received no further correspondence from the Commissioners of the Regalia on this matter following the parliamentary debate on 13 December 2006.

Stone of Destiny

Murdo Fraser (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what its position is on the relocation of the Stone of Destiny to Scone.

Patricia Ferguson: Decisions regarding the Stone of Destiny rest solely with Her Majesty The Queen as advised by Her Commissioners for the Safekeeping of the Regalia, whose duties are set out under the Royal warrant issued on 12 November 1996 immediately prior to the Stone’s departure from Westminster Abbey and return to Scotland. Historic Scotland officials have advised the Commissioners on technical matters relating to the care of the stone (and the Honours of Scotland) but they have no locus in any decision-making regarding the location of the stone. This is solely a matter for the commissioners.

Voluntary Sector

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many jobs it estimates will be lost in the next 12 months as a direct result of changes it has made to the administration of European structural funds for projects supported and operated by the voluntary sector.

Allan Wilson: It is not possible to estimate fully the impacts arising from changes to EU funding as the programmes have not been approved by the European Commission. However, changes to the administration to the funds would not directly lead to job losses in any sector. Any changes that will be introduced would be designed to ease administration burdens on project sponsors.

  It has been claimed that the delay to the start of the new programmes would see EU-funded projects close and redundancies ensue. Through a combination of operating a "shadow" European Structural Fund (ESF) round of £12 million of Executive funding from January and recycling more than £6 million funding from the existing ESF programmes to prolong current projects, the Executive has worked to ensure that this would not happen.

Voluntary Sector

Mr Jim Wallace (Orkney) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive how much each of its departments allocated to voluntary bodies, including sums channelled through local authorities, in each year from 1999-2000 to 2005-06.

Rhona Brankin: Centrally held details of direct Scottish Executive financial support to the voluntary sector are only available from 2000-01 and these are shown in the following table. A significant proportion of these monies will be channelled through statutory public bodies. It is not possible to provide these figures by Scottish Executive Department.

  Resources allocated to the voluntary sector from local authorities own resources are additional to these figures and are not calculated centrally.

  

Year
Amount


2000-01
£34,530,578


2001-02
£38,860,792


2002-03
£228,403,745


2003-04
£262,864,116


2004-05
£319,244,679


2005-06
£387,241,420


2006-07
£496,104,848



  In addition to direct Scottish Executive grants the voluntary sector has received considerable financial support through indirect funding from public bodies such as local authorities, NHS boards, local enterprise bodies and non-departmental public bodies. Resources allocated through these organisations are detailed in the following table.

  

Year
Amount


2000-01
£265,202,768


2001-02
£304,489,736


2002-03
£131,300,945


2003-04
£112,001,623


2004-05
£85,366,593


2005-06
£136,426,990


2006-07
£159,519,417



  Spreadsheets providing a breakdown of the organisations provided with Scottish Executive grant funding are available from the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. numbers 40554 (Direct) and 40555 (Indirect for 2006-07)).